Issue link: https://industrialengineer.epubxp.com/i/777540
48 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine Ben Hartman, owner of Clay Bottom Farm, and his wife, Rachel Hershberger, decided to go full-time with specialty produce farming in 2006. Workdays were long and of- ten filled with experiment- ing with close to 80 different crops and pushing those onto the market as well as deliv- ering produce to restaurants more than 100 miles from the farm. Hartman frequently worked more than 60 hours per week just to break even. The couple sells specialty produce to farmers markets, supplies produce to various restaurants in the area and sells produce directly to cus- tomers through what is called a "community deported agri- culture program," where cus- tomers pay at the beginning of the year to receive a box of fresh produce once a week through the growing season. Hartman knew he wanted to expand his business and increase its value, but didn't quite know how. That's when his client Steve Brenneman, owner of ATC trailers, suggested he employ lean manufacturing principles to his farming operations and offered to observe Hart- man's practices and make suggestions. Hartman was skeptical at first. "We didn't think it would work. I told him to imagine [running] a factory without a roof over your head and try to standardize anything," said Hartman. He also had concerns about using standardized practices at the expense of ethical farming to the point where the farm would run more like a factory. But Hartman was convinced based on the simple lean principle that eliminated waste equals free capacity. This idea was attractive to Hartman because he saw it as a way to grow his business without having to "buy more land, buy more greenhouses … or get a bigger tractor." The lean methodologies Hartman focused on were eliminating waste and identifying Fielding farm dreams with lean Solutions in practice case study Ben Hartman, owner of Clay Bottom Farm, hoeing bok choy.